Coupler operating rod



Dec. 20, 1955 J. 5. SWANN COUPLER OPERATING ROD Filed Nov. 20, 1953 INVENTOR. x 7723955104240,

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United States Patent 2,727,636 COUPLER OPERATING ROD James S. Swann, Homewood, 111., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application November 20, 1953, Serial No. 393,470

Claims. (Cl. 213-166) This invention relates to railway car coupler operating mechanisms operable from the side of the car.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel coupler operating rod, shaped and arranged so as to increase the effective rod handle leverage as much as possible within the limitations of the handle length by providing substantially adjacent handle areas whereby the operator may conveniently grasp the handle end of the rod with either or both hands to operate the coupler.

A further object of the invention is to so shape the handle end of the operating rod to comply with the above mentioned object and at the same time make it practically impossible for an operator to use the handle end of the rod as a temporary step for any purpose.

A further object is to provide such an operating rod having the above advantages and which may be incorporated in present equipment.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts.

Fig. 1 is an elevational view showing the uncoupling rod supported adjacent its handle end in a bracket and connected at its other end to the lock lifter of a car coupler.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the rod and its supporting bracket showing fragmentary portions of the car.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of Fig. 1.

In the drawings indicates an operating rod for an Association of American Railroads Type E coupler, which rod is provided at what will be termed its inner end with a hook portion 11 which extends through an eye of the coupler lock lifter 12, pivotally connected at one end to the link 13, which lifts the lock of the coupler 14 upon rotation of the rod in one direction and thereby uncouples the coupler. At its outer end the operating rod is provided with a substantially straight journal portion 15 adapted to be reciprocably and rotatably supported in a bracket 16, fixed adjacent an outer corner of the car, so that said journal portion may move longitudinally therein responsive to the side to side angling of the coupler and also rotate therein when the rod is rotated manually in operating the coupler. At the outer end of the journal portion 15, the rod is turned downwardly a short distance, as at 17. From the lower end of this portion 17 the rod inclines outwardly and downwardly, and thence downwardly, as at 18, forming a first handhold portion. From the lower end of the portion 18, the rod forms a curve of double curvature 19 which extends downwardly, backwardly and inwardly, the ends of which curve lie at opposite diagonal corners of a parallelepiped, thus providing a second handhold portion.

In operating the rod from its position of rest, shown in the drawing, the operator may use either or both hands. If he uses one hand, probably the right hand, he may grasp the rod anywhere along the two handhold "ice,

portions 18 or 19, wherever it seems to suit the individual operator best, and pulls the handle toward himself, thereby causing the rod to rotate on its axis of rotation and uncouple the coupler. Of course, the lower he grasps the handhold portion the greater the operating leverage. Should the operator have a stubborn coupler to contend with, he would grasp the handhold portion 17--18 with his left hand, and somewhere along the portion 19 with his right hand, and thereby would avail himself of maximum operating force to throw the coupler.

The double curvature of handle portion 19 has been designed for a dual purpose. First and foremost, it provides what has been referred to as a second handhold portion which can be grasped anywhere along its length with equal efiectiveness. Secondly, this design of second handhold prevents a very dangerous practice which has arisen in connection with operating rods wherein a second handhold has been formed by simply turning the rod from the bottom of the first handhold inwardly a short distance substantially parallel with the journal portion 15, in that the operators have increasingly used it as a step to get up to the grab iron, indicated at 20, and from there to the ladder on the end of the car. With applicants design of second handhold it is impossible to use the operating rod as a step, but still it provides every function required of a second handhold.

It will be noted in Figs. 2 and 3 that the first handhold portion 18 is formed entirely to one side of a vertical plane passing through the axis of rotation of said rod, and that the second handhold portion 19 issuing from said first handhold portion extends in the form of a curve of double curvature from said one side to the other side of said plane. Thus the end of the second handhold portion is inwardly toward the car end and out of the way so as not to catch the clothing of a switchman, in moving in or out between coupled cars.

I claim:

1. A rotatable coupler operating rod comprising means at one end for operative connection to the mechanism of a railway car coupler, the other end of said rod being bent substantially normal thereto and formed into a first handhold portion, a second handhold portion having the form of a curve of double curvature issuing from said first handhold portion and extending from one side to the other side of a vertical plane passing through the axis of rotation of said rod.

2. A one-piece coupler operating rod comprising means at one end for operative connection to the mechanism of a coupler, the other end of said rod being bent at substantially right angles thereto and formed into a first handhold portion, extending entirely to one side of a vertical plane passing through the axis of rotation of said rod, a second handhold portion, issuing from said first handhold portion, and having the form of a curve of double curvature, extending from said one side to the other side of said plane.

3. A one-piece coupler operating rod comprising means at one end for operative connection to the mechanism of a coupler, the other end of said rod being bent at substantially right angles thereto and formed into a first handhold portion, and a second handhold portion issuing therefrom, in the same general direction as said first handhold and having the form of a curve of double curvature extending from one side to the other side of a plane passing through the axis of rotation of said rod and toward said first mentioned end.

4. A rotatable coupler operating rod comprising means at one end for operative connection to the mechanism of a coupler, the other end of said rod being bent at substantially right angles thereto and formed into a first handhold portion, and a second handhold portion issuing therefrom, said second handhold portion having the form of a curve of double curvature, and the ends of which curve lie at opposite diagonal comers of a parallelepiped.

5. A rotatable coupler operating rod comprising means at one end for operative connection to the mechanism of a coupler, the other end of said rod being bent at substantially right angles thereto and formed into a first handhold portion, and a second handhold portion issuing therefrom, said second handheld portion having the form of a curve which extends downwardly, inwardly and 2,727,ese

backwardly from said first handhold portion, the ends of which second handheld portion lie at opposite diagonal corners of a parallelepiped.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,125,711 Bazeley Aug. 2, 1938 2,160,419 Kinne et a1. May 30, 1939 2,415,610 Sisson Feb. 11, 1947 2,480,708 Bronson Aug. 30, 1949 

